The Biggest Flu Epidemic in the World

The biggest flu epidemic in the world was the “Spanish Flu” outbreak in 1918, just about at the end of World War 2. The Spanish Flu caused multiple organs to fail. The flu spread amongst those fighting in World War 2, and then once the soldiers returned, the Spanish Flu spread throughout the civilians. Outbreaks of the Spanish Flu were happening in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, India, and Brazil. 28% of Americans were affected and an estimated 675,000 of that died of the Spanish Flu according to flu.gov. Worldwide, around 50 million people died and 500 million were affected. Out of all of the U.S. soldiers that died while in Europe, half of their deaths were due to the Spanish Flu.

The flu had a mortality rate of 2.5%, however, contrary to other flus being deadlier to the elderly and children, the Spanish Flu was deadlier to those between the ages of 20-40. The flu had also greatly impacted the economy. Since the flu had mainly affected the primary working ages, smaller businesses became unable to operate and some even went bankrupt.

You may ask, “How did the Spanish Flu become such a big epidemic?” The spread of the flu is due to soldiers who may have caught it being crammed in bunks, trains, and planes with other soldiers, allowing the flu to spread among them as well. Trenches also allowed the Spanish flu to spread among the soldiers, the soldiers were crammed into a cold, damp area. When the war was over, the soldiers returned back to their homes and the flu was able to spread in their country.

Spanish Flu killed so quickly, it was hard for doctors to gather information on the deadly disease. The disease killed some victims within only a few hours of them having their first symptoms of the illness. Even though some survived the first few hours of contracting the flu, some had also died within a few days due to liquid filling their lungs and then them suffocating. The odd thing is that the Spanish Flu symptoms are just like any other flu symptoms: nausea, a fever, aching, and occasionally pneumonia attacks. The Spanish Flu today can be treated and prevented like any other flu. You can take vaccines to prevent it or antibiotics if you already have it. However, the flu vaccine wasn’t invented until 1933. But those who contracted the disease and survived became immune to the disease.

The Spanish Flu was the biggest flu epidemic in history, claiming 50 million lives worldwide and affecting around 500 million people.

https://virus.stanford.edu/uda/

http://www.history.com/topics/1918-flu-pandemic

http://time.com/3731745/spanish-flu-history/

https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/influenza-epidemic/

http://www.flu.gov/pandemic/history/1918/the_pandemic/fightinginfluenza/